LeBron Interested In The Bulls?, "That's the one team no one talks about" Options

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Cross Nets, Clippers & Heat off LeBron James' list of potential NBA homes

As if there hasn't already been enough speculation about LeBron James' plans for the future, the next five months are going to be off the charts.

But go ahead and cross off the Clippers, Nets and Heat from the list of potential destinations for James, even though they've all got salary cap space to attract the NBA's top free agent this summer.

James isn't playing second fiddle to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, even if Clippers GM Mike Dunleavy traded off Marcus Camby, Al Thornton, Sebastian Telfair and got rid of Ricky Davis to create a maximum salary slot for the express purpose of landing James.

James might be tight with Net minority owner Jay-Z, but he's not coming to play in Newark for two years, which could turn into three or four seasons, depending on what happens to the Nets' Atlantic Yards project.

James isn't moving down to South Beach to team with Dwyane Wade. They both need to dominate the ball and the Heat wants to import a big man to pair with Wade. Chris Bosh tops the list, although the Heat were in trade talks this past week with Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire and Utah for Carlos Boozer, each of whom could become a free agent in July.

If James wants to win a title, his best chance, obviously, is to stay in Cleveland, where he can also sign for the most money.

While the Knicks were scrambling to get rid of Jared Jeffries' contract, which was the key to picking up enough cap space for two "maximum-salary" players, their brass was livid when it learned that the Cavaliers had stolen Antawn Jamison from the Wizards. The feeling inside the Two Penn Plaza offices is that Washington president Ernie Grunfeld stuck it to his old team by giving James the missing piece to the Cavs' championship puzzle. Winning it all is seen as the best way for Cleveland to keep its franchise player.

"It was as if the Wizards said, "You want Antawn Jamison? Well, here he is, take him,'" said one Knick executive. "They handed him over, just like the Timberwolves gave Kevin Garnett to the Celtics."

If James wants to go to a bigger market and join what would be a strong supporting cast, in Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Joakim Noah, he could go to the Bulls. Like the Clippers, the Bulls engineered a deal to get them far enough under the salary cap to give them a "max-salary" slot. They were so intent on clearing cap space, they were willing to give Hinrich away. But in the end, they swung the deal with the Bucks that removed John Salmons from their cap and gave them the necessary space to make a run at James.

"That's the one team no one talks about," said a person with close ties to James.

But Bosh, the top big man in the free-agent pool, is considered the Bulls' primary target.